Global Strategy & Booster Program Global Strategy & Booster Program - Correction Booster Program in Africa -- Toolkit -- Procurement & Supply Management -- Key Publications -- Scaling-Up for Impact (SUFI): A Two-Year Progress Report Treatment Guidelines  (WHO) World Malaria Report 2005 -- Roll Back Malaria -- -- Related Topics -- Booster Program for Malaria Control in Africa Communicable Disease HIV/AIDS Population & Reproductive Health

Malaria is one of the world's most important public health concerns, causing over a million deaths and up to 500 million clinical cases each year. Most of the 3,000 deaths each day - 10 new cases every second - are in Africa and more than a third of the world's total population now lives in malaria endemic areas. The disease also takes a high toll on households and health care systems, impeding development. It is estimated that malaria reduces GDP growth by approximately 1 full percentage point per year. The poor are affected most as they have less access to services, information and protective measures, and less power to avoid living or working in malaria-affected areas. A vaccine is not on the immediate horizon. Drug-resistance to affordable anti-malarial drugs, such as chloroquine, is on the rise and while more effective anti-malarials are available, they come at a significantly higher cost. The most cost-effective interventions against malaria today are rapid diagnosis and effective treatment, the use of insecticide-treated bednets, intermittent-presumptive treatment for pregnant women, and epidemic preparedness. The burden of malaria can be reduced significantly using existing preventive and treatment strategies; the international community has set clear targets to reduce the malaria burden in the  Millennium Development Goals and has united under the Roll Back Malaria initiative to meet these targets.